4 stars for Blackbirds (Miriam Black book 1) by Chuck Wendig.
Meet Miriam Black, a 22-year old girl who has the sight to see what is yet to pass. An impartial observer, Miriam sees death, everywhere; a spectator bearing witness to the last minutes of people's lives, with answers as to the how and more importantly, the when.
Thanks to her psychic ability, Miriam cannot help but be skeptical at best, if not paranoid of everything and everyone around her. Self-confessed to be an awful person, she curses, she drinks and she smokes. In toggling between the present and the past, Miriam tells her story. She tells of how she acquires this gift or rather curse and why she no longer tries to stop the deaths she sees in her visions from happening. That is, until she hitches a hike from a truck driver, a mountain of a man called Louis.
As a harbinger of death, Miriam is constantly plagued and haunted by those she has seen in her visions. The victims always manifest as a specter or demon from her own subconscious and taunt her, be it in suspended animation or wakefulness. It is indeed thought-provoking, the way the author pens Miriam's dreams and visions that one marvels if these are simply fragments of Miriam's own active imagination or phenomena from some higher power at work.
This fantasy tale trends very much on the side of dark urban, exploring and revealing the ugly side of human nature. There is cursing and swearing, violence and brutality, definitely not a story for the faint hearted. However, it is precisely due to this darkness that brings across its message, the bottomline of this story "it is what it is". It makes me think and wonder about my own actions and the resulting consequences. By taking Action A, I have created Result C. But if I have taken Action B, will it have led to a temporary Result D but ultimately still Result C? Is it the journey or the destination that matters?
It is what it is.
Publisher: Saga Press
Publication date: 5 May 2015
*** Favourite quote ***
All of our lives are just a series of events carefully orchestrated to culminate in whatever death fate has planned for us. Every moment. Every act. Every loving whisper and hateful gesture - all just another tiny cog in the clockwork ready to ring the alarm for our ultimate hour.
~ Blackbirds
Chuck Wendig
@}--->>--->>-----
Miriam Black knows when you will die.
She’s foreseen hundreds of car crashes, heart attacks, strokes, and suicides.
But when Miriam hitches a ride with Louis Darling and shakes his hand, she sees that in thirty days Louis will be murdered while he calls her name. Louis will die because he met her, and she will be the next victim.
No matter what she does she can’t save Louis. But if she wants to stay alive, she’ll have to try.
*Blurb from Goodreads*
Add to:
Links to purchase:
No comments:
Post a Comment